Thoughts & Sketches

How I created ‘Resonance – Series 1’

The ‘Resonance – Series I’ Collection evolved from a series of charcoal drawings created at St Mary’s Church, Painswick.
My aim was to tune in to and capture the memories, stories, and experiences of the people who had passed that way. The very vibration held within the church and the land.

Without intent or idea I began each piece by drawing with white pastel on white paper, without being able to see what was being drawn. Then I added and removed layer after layer of charcoal, always without trying to influence what was beginning to emerge. Eventually images would begin to appear which I then teased out.
Once I was happy with the image I photographed it within the church, capturing the energy, vibration, light and atmosphere of the moment.
At home I painstakingly built the image layer by layer on the computer. There was no technique or format, each piece was moulded individually and uniquely.
The whole process felt very much like delicately capturing a memory and rebuilding it, piece by piece, back into physical form.

10th MAY 2014

Solo Show – Gardens Gallery Cheltenham 2014

Private View Evening – Photos courtesy of Anne Marie Randall Photography 2014

Exhibition by night
 

30th APRIL 2014

The ‘Being Human’ Collection – How I work…

When I begin each painting I have no idea what they will become. I empty my mind and without intent, I allow the piece to emerge. Often I am pestered by a colour until I begin to work with it. I then paint freely.*
Sometimes words come into my head which are then added. This can really change the feeling of a piece, even when the words are subsequently painted over.**
Colour plays a huge role in this work; it affects how we relate to or connect to things. We are drawn to colours for a variety of reasons and they can sometimes affect our mood, our health and our well-being.*** I am often fascinated how strongly people are attracted to or repelled by a painting simply because of the colour, sometimes even before they have considered the subject matter. The colour and vibration speak to them first.
My paintings are often built up layer upon layer, in a subconscious way, until the final image appears. What is fascinating to me is that the emotion or vibration caught in each layer often depicts the same feeling, in different ways, time after time; like the repetition of a certain behaviour cements that behaviour into our very being.
Sometimes the work has paint added, washed off, dripped on, scrapped or sandpapered. I use brushes, sticks, pencils, cotton wool, sponges – whatever is to hand, whatever I feel is required. And, on occasion, my hands; it can get massively messy!

But finally the finished image is caught – a suspended moment – strokes of paint capturing a measure of time, space and emotion. It is often raw in appearance but needs to be left to be what it is; perfect imperfection.

*I usually dowse which colour combinations to use – sometimes I am surprised by the choices, but I trust they will be the ones which are required. Hasty judgements with the mind can shackle new ways of working.
**I am fascinated by the work of Masaru Emoto, a Japanese author, who claims that human consciousness has an effect on the molecular structure of water. He claims that the written, spoken and thought word can cause these changes. Pseudoscience or yet unproven fact? Food for thought…
***Colour therapists and healers work with colour to heal and rebalance our energetic systems – also fascinating.

21st APRIL 2014

Life drawing

Loved this sketch – so vulnerable yet so relaxed. Have turned it into an etching – available soon…

18th MARCH 2014

To expose or not to expose? That is the question…

‘To expose, or not to expose oneself; that is the question’.

In the maelstrom of social media I find myself asking ‘What do you want to see?’

Do you want an artist to remain a dark, mysterious, curious enigma? Does that cause you to be interested, intrigued and mystified; does it drive you to delve further, and want a piece of this mysterious specimen?
You may genuinely, deeply and passionately love the artists work. Each piece may bring you thought-provoking inspiration, awe, and deep connection to another human being, another concept, another fascinating way to view life. The paint covered Messiah leading you towards light or dark, insight or confusion, hope or despair. But moving you, poking at your consciousness, stirring the muddy pool, making you look and look and think and feel.

Will this curio and their work become less intriguing and less valuable to you if they tweet about their breakfast, their car tax or their galloping dandruff?
Does this caped-crusader lose their super powers if people view the artist’s ‘selfie’?

Would it ruin things to know the artist you admire or cling on to is human? That they eat and sleep and pay bills and worry, albeit wearing slightly different life-goggles. Would it help you to connect more to them and their work if you knew that they are more like you than you realised? Perhaps they posses planet-sized, exploratory, skewed-minds firing off in all directions; seeing what others don’t, connecting the obscure, feeling the emotions of the Universe. Or perhaps, oh my God, they do the school run, make packed lunches, and do the washing just like you. Or perhaps they are both of these things.

Would it make you love them more if you could explore their normality, or would it spoil the magic and undermine the brilliance and insight of their work?
Do we want someone mysterious to admire, or someone just like us?
Do you want an artist to be human or an enigma?

So I ask my question once more ‘to expose or not to expose oneself; that is the question’…….

17th MARCH 2014